Espada and Diaz in Lawrence

In the last two weeks, thanks to the work of Bread Loafers, the city ofLawrence hosted two extraordinary writers.

Last Saturday, January 12, Martin Espada performed a reading at El Taller,the new cafe and community center opened by Bread Loafer Mary Guerrero.Espada, originally from Brooklyn, is of Puerto Rican descent and haswritten powerfully about Latino, class and other human issues. He haspublished many books of poems, including Albanza (my recommedation foryour first Espada collection).

On Friday, January 18, Lawrence High School hosted Junot Diaz, thePulitzer-prize and MacArthur genius-grant winning Dominican-Americanwriter, whose three books (Drown, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,and This is How You Lose Her) have established him as perhaps the finestAmerican writer of his generation. It was Diaz's fourth visit to LawrenceHigh School, thanks to the work of Bread Loaf alum Sean McCarthy. Diazrequested that the event not be pulicized, and he spoke with a group of 75invited students and teachers. To the students, all of whom had read Diaz,he is an absolute star, a bigger celebrity than any actor, musician orathlete. For Diaz's part, he came to Lawrence free of charge, andexpressed joy at the chance to meet with Lawrence students. He has, ofcourse, a standing invitation to return to Lawrence at any time.

Add to this readings in the city over the last ten years by Robert Pinsky,Julia Alvarez and Seamus Heany, all facilitated by Bread Loafers, as wellas the parade of writers and artists who perform for Lawrence students andteachers at the Andover Bread Loaf Writer's Workshop each summer.

We believe strongly in Bread Loaf's role in cultivating the literary andartistic life of a community, and bringing the finest authors and artistsdirectly to our students.